water turned off

[kookie]

Hi Kookie

Hope you get your water sorted. Just out of curiositywhat sort of dogs do you have. If they are them toy jack russells then i dont suppose the quantity is a prob.

Dave

Thanks. We have purchase a hose pipe, length recomended by the marina, which turned out to be around 25 metres short. Nice chap at the end lent us his to add to ours. We will be buying more tomorrow.

 

they are cocker spaniels, also known as cuddle monsters, (at least to cocker lovers) or lovable lunatics, ( also to cocker lovers)

[ChrisPy]

length recomended by the marina, which turned out to be around 25 metres short.

couldn't measure it yourself ?

 

one pace is 1 metre, giving enough slack to get round obstacles, etc.

[kookie]

couldn't measure it yourself ?

 

one pace is 1 metre, giving enough slack to get round obstacles, etc.

 

Well actually, I did pace it out, but being a bit of a short arse, I wanted to be sure and just assumed the marina would know the lenth of their own piers.

[kookie]

As a matter of interest, what is the capacity of your water tank? You do seem to be using an excessive amount of water, not withstanding the frequent dog washing and use of the washing machine (which are heavy users os water). I see from a previous posting you made in November you have also had a problem with your loo holding tank macerator and the tank filling quickly.

 

Could it be that you still need to adapt to living on board - we all need to be much more frugal about things like water usage, lights etc. For example, I have had visitors on board, unused to boat toilets, who try to fluch our Sealand toilet by leaving the valve open to give a constant flow. This, of course, fills the tank in no time. Similarly, the frequent use of an automatic washing machine will go through water very quickly. Does Sawley not have a laundry roo you could use?

 

Howard Anguish

 

Have checked, and the capacity is 600 litres. We filled it yesterday, did 3 washes and it seems to need filling again, does that sound right. Its is one of thouse small washers, not a full size one.

Maybe it is that we are still adapting.

Sawley does have a laundry, but to be honest, you wouldn't really want to put your clothes in them :ph34r:

 

I have looked for the vent as was suggested, but cant seem to find one. When I undid the filling cap this morning, it seems to release a bit of a vacuum, and you can feel the air being sucked in, it makes a kind of a hissing noise. Does this sound right, could it be that there is no vent. Sorry if this makes me sound a thicko, but I have come the conclusion that there is no silly question when it comes to boats.

[bottle]

Have checked, and the capacity is 600 litres. We filled it yesterday, did 3 washes and it seems to need filling again, does that sound right. Its is one of thouse small washers, not a full size one.

Just had a quick look at a washing machine site and one machine on there uses 60 litres per cycle so assuming a full tank you could do 10 washes but of course that does not allow for any other use.

Maybe it is that we are still adapting.

You may well be

Sawley does have a laundry, but to be honest, you wouldn't really want to put your clothes in them :ph34r:

I would be of the same opinion about any communal laundry.

 

I have looked for the vent as was suggested, but cant seem to find one. When I undid the filling cap this morning, it seems to release a bit of a vacuum, and you can feel the air being sucked in, it makes a kind of a hissing noise. Does this sound right, could it be that there is no vent.

There will be a vent somewhere (famous last words) the above does describe the classic signs of a vent being blocked, there may even be a hole in the filling cap, that is the vent..

 

Sorry if this makes me sound a thicko, but I have come the conclusion that there is no silly question when it comes to boats.

We all have to learn, only thicko's do not ask. All my knowledge for what it is worth is from asking questions.

[howardang]

Have checked, and the capacity is 600 litres. We filled it yesterday, did 3 washes and it seems to need filling again, does that sound right. Its is one of thouse small washers, not a full size one.

Maybe it is that we are still adapting.

Sawley does have a laundry, but to be honest, you wouldn't really want to put your clothes in them :ph34r:

 

I have looked for the vent as was suggested, but cant seem to find one. When I undid the filling cap this morning, it seems to release a bit of a vacuum, and you can feel the air being sucked in, it makes a kind of a hissing noise. Does this sound right, could it be that there is no vent. Sorry if this makes me sound a thicko, but I have come the conclusion that there is no silly question when it comes to boats.

That hissing noise certainly suggests that you have a partial vacuum building up and indicates either a blocked vent or a lack of a vent.

 

If you cant find a vent it might be worth asking the builders of the boat - I assume the boat, looking at the photo of it on your profile. Failing that, maybe a local engineer at Sawley caould look into it for you.

 

Is the filler cap exposed? If not, you could try leaving it off during one filling/emptying cycle of the tank to see if 1) you get more water in and 2) whether the vacuum disappears. Of course you will have to make sure that nothing gets down your tank - cover it loosly with something which wont prevent air getting down.

 

Finally, your tank capacity of 600 litres is only 132 gallons. The consumption of washing machines varies depending on the type of washing but a good figure to work on is 50-70 litres of water per load. With 3 washes, 2 showers each and some dog washing, not to mention toilet flushing, it's not surprising that you need to refill your tank. I think the answers is two fold - a bigger tank and more adaptation to on board life, I'm afraid.

 

HTH

 

Howard Anguish

Edited December 16, 2007 by howardang

[kookie]

Thanks Howard and Keith.

[wrigglefingers]

Our water is turned off at the moment due to the cold weather. The marina manager knows we are light on water but will only turn the water back on when the overnight temperature rises above zero. There isn't much I can do about it and it's not worth an argument as we depend on him for many things like space for our boat and so on. It's just a feature of life on a boat in winter. Incidentally, we have the same size tank as you and we go for nearly three weeks between fills and even then we're not empty. We are very frugal with water, and until Ellen put the Christmas lights up, electricity too as a point of principle really - we can both be in and out of the shower in about 10 minutes in the morning. It took us about six months to get out of our wasteful house ways and we've probably gone a bit too native, but with a calorifier that only holds 45 litres there isn't much choice really if we both want a warmish shower in the morning!

 

Jill

 

 

PS I'm always amused when we go out on the cut looking at other boats at night. Generally liveaboards have one light on and a radio, but hireboats have every single light, gizmo and gadget running. They're also often dark by the time I go home from the pub too.............

[blearyboy]

having the water turned off happened to us last winter! BW scotland residential mooring and the only ppl living on the mooring so yes it was important that we had water! easlisly solved though....develop the realationship with the bw guys who are responsible for your stretch of canal, make sure they know you are living aboard..easy to miss amingst all the boats taking up residential moorings but not living on thier boats!!!!!!! my experience once the bw dudes know you are living on your boat they will bend over backwards to help.. they ain't got much time for ppl with ££££ who come down to 'cruise'. so once the bw dudes know you are living aboard the communication begins...p.s. can't imagine much of a queue for water at 3am in the morning! just a thought!!!!!!

[chris w]

I have looked for the vent as was suggested, but cant seem to find one. When I undid the filling cap this morning, it seems to release a bit of a vacuum, and you can feel the air being sucked in, it makes a kind of a hissing noise. Does this sound right, could it be that there is no vent. Sorry if this makes me sound a thicko, but I have come the conclusion that there is no silly question when it comes to boats.

 

I agree too that you definitely have a blocked vent. You shouldn't hear any hissing. You have a metal tank so the pump can't suck the sides in like it could with a plastic bag-type tank, which are the only ones that don't need a vent.

 

Chris

Edited December 16, 2007 by chris w

[Guest]

Definitely a blocked vent. Ours had got sprayfoam in the vent when being foamed; bet its not the only one. We can hear the vent gurgling when the pump is running. As others suggested release the filler cap and try again when you think the tank is empty. As has been said many times " The only daft questions are the ones that we don't ask."

[Lady Muck]

Our water is turned off at the moment due to the cold weather. The marina manager knows we are light on water but will only turn the water back on when the overnight temperature rises above zero. There isn't much I can do about it and it's not worth an argument as we depend on him for many things like space for our boat and so on. It's just a feature of life on a boat in winter. Incidentally, we have the same size tank as you and we go for nearly three weeks between fills and even then we're not empty. We are very frugal with water, and until Ellen put the Christmas lights up, electricity too as a point of principle really - we can both be in and out of the shower in about 10 minutes in the morning. It took us about six months to get out of our wasteful house ways and we've probably gone a bit too native, but with a calorifier that only holds 45 litres there isn't much choice really if we both want a warmish shower in the morning!

 

Jill

PS I'm always amused when we go out on the cut looking at other boats at night. Generally liveaboards have one light on and a radio, but hireboats have every single light, gizmo and gadget running. They're also often dark by the time I go home from the pub too.............

 

We've got one tap here between 15 boats. We have a plumbed in water supply to each pillar but it's never been switched on.

 

I can understand it if the OP doesn't want to use the marina washing machine. Ours costs a whopping £4.30. The local launderette charges £2.

 

I'm really tight with water, it lasts us about a month, but we don't often shower onboard, we use the shower block.

 

Edited to add: that reminds me about a story to do with me being really tight with water.

 

We were cruising the Stort last summer and The Submarine Captains brother came with us. He's very suspicious of the tapwater on nb - probably because he managed to contaminate the watertank on the last nb he owned.

 

So he brought loads of those big mineral water bottles , those 5l Ones.

 

We all had a particularly booze fuelled heavy night moored outside Sawbridgeworth, much wine and beer spilled everywhere, many hangovers were to be had. He left the following day and left behind one of these water bottles which was about a quarter full. Not wanting to waste it I thought I'd save it.

 

A few days later I still had the bottle I decided the water might be a bit stale to drink. I was going to wash up, so I thought I'd heat it up and use it in that way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The smell of hot, stale, p*ss filled the cabin.

Edited December 16, 2007 by Lady Muck

[DHutch]

..We filled it yesterday, did 3 washes and it seems to need filling again...

Sounds to me like a lot of washs!

- Im only living on my own, but even with work clothes, evening cloths, biking every friday (full change each time) and everything i can string out to about one wash every 10 days.

- We washed our dogs bean bag no more than once year (handwash), and the cover (size of a average towel in the washing machine) only about once a quarter tops.

 

As for turning you tap off, then if it is freezing outside (which it is here) then if they didnt and its exposed, then it would freeze. Which would be worse?

- Obvously its all down tho thinking. What they should have done is run the pipe un the water, a foot below the jetty.

- But for now what else can they actaully do? Not that our marina has a pipe more than 100ft away from out boat anyway!

 

Daniel

[Yoda]

Sounds to me like a lot of washs!

- Im only living on my own, but even with work clothes, evening cloths, biking every friday (full change each time) and everything i can string out to about one wash every 10 days. - We washed our dogs bean bag no more than once year (handwash), and the cover (size of a average towel in the washing machine) only about once a quarter tops.

 

As for turning you tap off, then if it is freezing outside (which it is here) then if they didnt and its exposed, then it would freeze. Which would be worse?

- Obvously its all down tho thinking. What they should have done is run the pipe un the water, a foot below the jetty.

- But for now what else can they actaully do? Not that our marina has a pipe more than 100ft away from out boat anyway!

 

Daniel

 

Has your girlfriend left you Dan?

[DHutch]

Has your girlfriend left you Dan?

Girlfriend what now?

- I also wash myself more frequently than i run the washing machine, and even change my cloths from time to time!

[kookie]

Some interesting and amsing stories Like I said, I can understand wht they did it, specially this morning when I saw 3 ducks wadling furiosly across the ice for some bread, (the others flew in). It's just that being newbies and everything, we weren't execting it to be turned off for the whole of the winter. I'm trying now to find one of those hosepipe caddy things big enough to wind on 100 metres of hose, it was a right old chuckle brothers episode trying to wind it all up

Because wew were in a hurry to get some hose, we didnt have time to look around and wilkos, argos, wickes and the local garden center didn't have any caddies/trollies (or whatever it is theyre called), wrong time of years I suppose so just had to buy loose hose.

Edited December 17, 2007 by kookie

[stuart]

Finally, your tank capacity of 600 litres is only 132 gallons. The consumption of washing machines varies depending on the type of washing but a good figure to work on is 50-70 litres of water per load. With 3 washes, 2 showers each and some dog washing, not to mention toilet flushing, it's not surprising that you need to refill your tank. I think the answers is two fold - a bigger tank and more adaptation to on board life, I'm afraid.HTHHoward Anguish

This might be a useful reference....http://www.uswitch.com/Water/How-Much-Water-Use.html

Some interesting and amsing stories Like I said, I can understand wht they did it, specially this morning when I saw 3 ducks wadling furiosly across the ice for some bread, (the others flew in). It's just that being newbies and everything, we weren't execting it to be turned off for the whole of the winter. I'm trying now to find one of those hosepipe caddy things big enough to wind on 100 metres of hose, it was a right old chuckle brothers episode trying to wind it all up Because wew were in a hurry to get some hose, we didnt have time to look around and wilkos, argos, wickes and the local garden center didn't have any caddies/trollies (or whatever it is theyre called), wrong time of years I suppose so just had to buy loose hose.

You could always go for a quick cruise to your nearest BW water point? Crusing in the winter is good fun !

[debbifiggy]

Finally, your tank capacity of 600 litres is only 132 gallons. The consumption of washing machines varies depending on the type of washing but a good figure to work on is 50-70 litres of water per load. With 3 washes, 2 showers each and some dog washing, not to mention toilet flushing, it's not surprising that you need to refill your tank. I think the answers is two fold - a bigger tank and more adaptation to on board life, I'm afraid.

 

HTH

 

Howard Anguish

 

If it helps we have a 150 gal tank which lasts the two of us and our cat 1 week assuming no more than 3 shortish washing machine loads (which does all our clothes and bedding for a week) and up 12 showers between us plus cooking, drinking and washing up and cleaning. I only wash my hair twice a week at most and that's plenty. I do know people who can make the same size tank of water last two to three weeks ..... but we are all different and that is part of the fun. Takes a lot of people a while to adapt to using less resources.

D

[chris w]

If it helps we have a 150 gal tank which lasts the two of us and our cat 1 week ................ and up 12 showers between us

D

 

I'm not visiting you on a Monday then

[saltysplash]

Its by no means unusual for pontoons to have the water turned off when temps are expected below freezing......admittedly on my old tub she had a 2000 litre tank but there were times when i used to find the main stop cock and turn it back on (remembering to turn off each idividual tap along the pontoon on my way back)

 

I find the washing mashine uses most water so its on it shortest wash/rinse tap turned off in the shower when soaping up....tap turned off when brushing teeth.....swmbo castigated when she fails the frugal test...awwwww bless

Edited December 18, 2007 by saltysplash

[Les Taylor]

Its by no means unusual for pontoons to have the water turned off when temps are expected below freezing......admittedly on my old tub she had a 2000 litre tank but there were times when i used to find the main stop cock and turn it back on (remembering to turn off each idividual tap along the pontoon on my way back)

 

I find the washing mashine uses most water so its on it shortest wash/rinse tap turned off in the shower when soaping up....tap turned off when brushing teeth.....swmbo castigated when she fails the frugal test...awwwww bless

 

That's an outrage, Salty.

[StoneHenge]

The marina we were at had a policy of the water being turned on at 9, off at 4, then off for the whole weekend if it was going to be cold. That way most people had chance to fill up in the week (apart from those who worked earlier and later than those times, then it got more interesting!).

 

Our tank is 600 litres and it will last us 2 weeks if used conseritively, but we don't have a washing machine on board yet, so that's a lot of water taken out of the equation. We don't have dogs, but do have kids, and showers are on off affairs so we get wet, turn off the shower, soap up, rinse off, takes minimal water.

 

It's a big learning curve when you first move on board getting used to things like that. We have all been there and done that. I took a lot of those things for granted to begin with, and you soon learn to be more frugal and clever about thing like water usage and electricity (if you are not on a hook up).

 

Hope you get the blockage sorted. One less thing to worry about out of the ten thousand that spring up all over the place.

[chris w]

The marina we were at had a policy of the water being turned on at 9, off at 4, then off for the whole weekend if it was going to be cold. That way most people had chance to fill up in the week (apart from those who worked earlier and later than those times, then it got more interesting!).

 

Our tank is 600 litres and it will last us 2 weeks if used conseritively, but we don't have a washing machine on board yet, so that's a lot of water taken out of the equation. We don't have dogs, but do have kids, and showers are on off affairs so we get wet, turn off the shower, soap up, rinse off, takes minimal water.

 

It's a big learning curve when you first move on board getting used to things like that. We have all been there and done that. I took a lot of those things for granted to begin with, and you soon learn to be more frugal and clever about thing like water usage and electricity (if you are not on a hook up).

 

Hope you get the blockage sorted. One less thing to worry about out of the ten thousand that spring up all over the place.

 

How do you make 600 litres last 2 weeks? We have a 450 litre tank so, at the same rate, we should get 10 days use from it. In reality, we get 3 days and we are not liveaboards, nor do we have a washing machine. We use it simply for showers every day and washing up etc. How do you make it last 3 times longer???

 

Chris

[Guest]

How do you make 600 litres last 2 weeks? We have a 450 litre tank so, at the same rate, we should get 10 days use from it. In reality, we get 3 days and we are not liveaboards, nor do we have a washing machine. We use it simply for showers every day and washing up etc. How do you make it last 3 times longer???

 

Chris

Disposable plates and cutlery, turn clothes inside out after two days and plenty of Rightguard Seriously we would get similar time out of a similar tank, and less when we use the washer. My youngest daughter could empty the tank in a day.

[Nige G]

Maybe you all need to have fewer showers?